Make the effort to sell or just freecycle it?

[laohaire]

Financially, we are paying our bills every month with no problem. But we're not doing much more than that. Very little savings, and trying to pay down debt. Our budget is to the bone, we don't even have netflix much less cable, our phone setup costs $15 a month, etc. So we could definitely use some money.

On the other hand:

- It takes a lot more effort to sell stuff
- People are hard to work with. I don't want dissatisfied people who know my home address, you know?
- DH, who is sensitive to violence, is concerned about people coming to our house anyway
- We live on a remote dead-end street, so a yard sale is completely out of the question
- I don't feel like I've got loads of extra energy and time to give away

How do I decide whether to make the effort to sell stuff or just get rid of it via Freecycle (which involves strangers anyway - but I figure that the likelihood of someone with a grudge against us for something they got for FREE is a lot lower)?

Last year I freecycled a nice wooden diaper changer. I thought about selling it but it had a drawer that was stuck (you could open it but only with a hell of a yank) and the other was not working so great. I could have fixed it up, just a bit of hardware needed, but I didn't want to deal with it. I didn't want anyone dissatisfied. So I freecycled it. The woman very nicely told me I was crazy, and the thing was worth $200 easily. Sigh.

I don't think I have anything else big like that but I could theoretically make the effort to sell everything one by one and maybe make a couple hundred a month if I'm lucky.

How to decide, how to decide?

[daytripper75]

Are there any community garage sales or flea markets near you? Maybe you could have a garage sale away from home.
Honestly, I would try to sell as much as I could. That extra cushion of money would be nice!

[Mommy2Austin]

If you could use the cushion, then I would definitely sell stuff. Just make sure you put in your ad that the item is AS IS. Describe it with as much detail needed to get any issues across. There's no reason to get rid of sellable things that you could use the money from to help out your budget for fear of someone being unhappy. If they wanted something new and perfect they should have paid full price at the store.

[Jaxinator]

With Craigslist you can always agree to meet somewhere neutral, so no one has to come to your house. Or offer to drop it off if it's within a reasonable distance.

[mkksmom]

That was my suggestion as well. Meet them somewhere rather than having them come to your house.

[texmati]

I would sell-- it's really not as difficult as it seems.

[Ola_]

I've sold a couple of appliances so far and it's been pretty easy. I make sure to list any known issues (the items were older but in working condition) and include pictures so no one is surprised at pickup time. I have a couple more things to get rid of and I plan to sell those also based on how the previous items went.

[Crayfish]

I think that it depends on how bad the clutter problem is, and how much it's affecting your life. And, for that matter, is it affecting your life in ways that affect your finances?

For example, is your kitchen cluttered to the point that it's hard to cook, so that you spend more on eating out and takeout and prepared foods than you would have to?

Are your papers cluttered to the point that you sometimes forget to pay a bill on time, and have to pay a late fee?

Does the clutter sometimes result in something being lost or broken or destroyed, so that you have to repurchase it?

Do you have enough clutter that you're living in a house larger than you have to, and if you decluttered could you end up paying less rent?

Is none of this true, but the clutter is still making the house a dreary place, so that the burden of having to be frugal is that much harder? Eating popcorn and watching network television in a nice tidy space with clear surfaces is a lot more fun than doing the same thing in a claustrophobic untidy space.

I think that all of these would be reasons to just get rid of the stuff and get the decluttering done. On the other hand, if the house is mostly in pretty good shape, you're reasonably happy with it, and you're just occasionally getting rid of a thing or two, then it might be worth selling things.

Crayfish

Edited to add: I have trouble believing that you really could have gotten $200 for the diaper changer, unless it was fabulous to the point of being a collectible. Looking online, I see new ones for well under $200. While yours may have cost much more than that new, my impression is that people who are buying things used are usually looking to pay less than they'd have to pay new for any decent item in the category. In other words, if yours was a top-of-the-line one that cost $1000, but it's easy to buy an adequate new one for $150, I'd expect people to want to pay, oh, $50 for any used one, even that top-of-the-line one. I may be wrong, but I also wouldn't put too much weight on that woman's one offhand remark.

[laohaire]

I'm still thinking it's a real pain to sell a bunch of little stuff - toys, books, small appliances, unused gifts, whatever. They go very quickly on freecycle but it would take a lot more time to list, photograph, describe well - not to mention arrange times to do the exchange (and possibly driving to meet up and even waiting - I also don't drive so this would be asking DH to deal with that).

I don't want to sound like I'm not open to advice to sell, because I am - but just saying my specific concern about that. If anyone has anything to address that I'm all ears. Honestly I would like to do a yard sale because I figure it's easy to just collect it all, post some signs/ads, and just devote half a day (or whatever) to it and then be done. Freecycle whatever is left over. But like I said, not a possibility where I live. (Besides the dead end street, I also don't have a front yard to speak of, nor a garage or anything - I'm actually lucky to have a driveway in our town! And it's so narrow you can't open the car doors more than just enough to get in and out, or you'll hit the house or retaining wall).

Originally Posted by Crayfish

I think that it depends on how bad the clutter problem is, and how much it's affecting your life. And, for that matter, is it affecting your life in ways that affect your finances?

For example, is your kitchen cluttered to the point that it's hard to cook, so that you spend more on eating out and takeout and prepared foods than you would have to?

Are your papers cluttered to the point that you sometimes forget to pay a bill on time, and have to pay a late fee?

Does the clutter sometimes result in something being lost or broken or destroyed, so that you have to repurchase it?

Do you have enough clutter that you're living in a house larger than you have to, and if you decluttered could you end up paying less rent?

No, none of this is true. We live in a 1200 sq ft home, so we're not overstretching ourselves for junk. We have a very normal amount of clutter.

Is none of this true, but the clutter is still making the house a dreary place, so that the burden of having to be frugal is that much harder? Eating popcorn and watching network television in a nice tidy space with clear surfaces is a lot more fun than doing the same thing in a claustrophobic untidy space.

Our house isn't claustrophobic at all but it is untidy - mostly because of toys, I guess, which is normal when you have a 4 year old. But I find that when there is a little clutter, it encourages more. If stuff gets left out on the table, then everyone (including me) feels free to just dump more stuff since it's already a mess.

I think that all of these would be reasons to just get rid of the stuff and get the decluttering done. On the other hand, if the house is mostly in pretty good shape, you're reasonably happy with it, and you're just occasionally getting rid of a thing or two, then it might be worth selling things.

It's probably in between. It's not that cluttered. But it's not like I have a pristine home that I am just maintaining. I'm just trying to improve something that's not out of control but still could use improvement.

Edited to add: I have trouble believing that you really could have gotten $200 for the diaper changer, unless it was fabulous to the point of being a collectible. Looking online, I see new ones for well under $200. While yours may have cost much more than that new, my impression is that people who are buying things used are usually looking to pay less than they'd have to pay new for any decent item in the category. In other words, if yours was a top-of-the-line one that cost $1000, but it's easy to buy an adequate new one for $150, I'd expect people to want to pay, oh, $50 for any used one, even that top-of-the-line one. I may be wrong, but I also wouldn't put too much weight on that woman's one offhand remark.

Ah, no worries, I'm not dying over the $200 or whatever. I don't know anything about how much it was worth. My mom did say she paid a lot for it at a consignment shop, but I didn't remember how much. I would guess between $100-200 based on my mom's level of comfort with spending money. Maybe she got ripped, I don't know. It wasn't a collector's item that I know of but it was solid wood. It doesn't really matter, it was just the biggest example I could think of where I just gave away something that would have brought in some cash, because I just didn't want to deal with it.

[happysmileylady]

I think it all depends on what you are selling/getting rid of. And why. If space in the home is the priority, just freecycling it or donating to goodwill isn't a bad idea. However, if finances are the priority, which given than it's the first thing you mention in your post, it sounds like they are in your case, then selling it is likely the better option.

And, like I said, what you are getting rid of makes a difference too. Selling a car or a huge piece of furniture or something like that is going to probably easier to do on Craigslist or ebay rather than trying to do a garage sale (you can do local pick up only on ebay too.) But if you have a bunch of various odds and ends, like individual dishes or little kids toys or such, that probably will do better at a yard sale, people are rarely going to travel much of a distance just to purchase one small item. And if a garage sale is just totally out of the question, then just dumping it at the local goodwill might be your best bet.

Some things to remember with freecycle (and craigslist too) is that there are a LOT of flakey people. Especially when you are giving it away for free-they say they are going to come by, schedule a time and then never show. This is very common with freecycle and can result in stuff being stuck around your house longer than you want. And the smaller it is, the flakier people are.

As to the idea of using CL or FC or Ebay and them being dangerous by having people come by your house, well, that's just not likely. Does it happen, sure, but it's no something that is any more dangerous than a yard sale or getting in the car and driving to goodwill to donate. Heck, you are probably more likely to get injured in a car accident on the way to Goodwill than you are to have a "bad deal" from CL. And really, most of the ones you DO see on the news result from people responding to personals ads, rather than someone going to buy a $10 couch.

I would not completely discount the idea of a yard sale though. If a yard sale is done with the right advertising, where you are located may not matter. You can use CL to advertise for a garage sale, there are a LOT of people that find garage sales that way, plus, if you can include pics in a CL ad and it's all for free. Then there's the standby of the newspapers, I know a lot of folks, especially older ones, scour the newspapers for yard sale ads. And depending on how "remote" your street is, a few well placed signs, bright, big and easy to read at main intersections can direct people. And if all else fails, you can always check around to see if a church might be doing a booth sale type of thing or if a friend or family member is already planning a sale at their house, perhaps you can combine. Multi family sales are a big draw.

[suziek]

I haven't read all the posts but I am in the middle of a silly Freecycle situation. If you are going to make the effort and need the $ you might as well try to sell. Even when you are giving things away people can be PITAs.

[Crayfish]

Originally Posted by laohaire

I'm still thinking it's a real pain to sell a bunch of little stuff - toys, books, small appliances, unused gifts, whatever. They go very quickly on freecycle but it would take a lot more time to list, photograph, describe well - not to mention arrange times to do the exchange (and possibly driving to meet up and even waiting - I also don't drive so this would be asking DH to deal with that).

I'm much closer to "it's not worth it", myself. Even if you did decide to go to selling some things, I'd suggest setting a per-sale minimum, below which you declare that it's not worth it and you give it away. So it might be worth selling something for fifty dollars, or a hundred, but it's not worth selling dozens and dozens of toys at a couple of dollars apiece. (Unless you stuff them all into a bunch of boxes and sell the whole Stack O Boxes for fifty dollars to one person.)

But I still go back to "not worth it". If you were actually going hungry or couldn't pay the electric bill, that might be different. But that's not the situation.

Crayfish

[OkiMom]

Honestly Im inclinded if I don't give it to a thrift store to sale it. I find that people flake a WHOLE lot more when it comes to things people are giving away than when it comes to something they have to buy. For example, I had a box of misc cleaning supplies I was getting rid of after changing to more natural alternatives. I listed it for free on the local classifieds. In two weeks I had 10 no shows which wasted my time, energy and resources (some of these I actually agreed to met them 20 minutes away from my house so it wasted a ton of money on gas). After that I listed it for 10.00 on the same site, within 2 hours I had the things bought and picked up.. funny thing is it was from someone who e-mailed me about it when it was for free and never showed up to pick it up.
I have similar no show experiences with everything I try to give away. Bags of toys, clothing, food even people don't show up but Ive only had maybe 10 no shows in the over 100 things Ive sold for myself and friends who asked me to help out. I find that the no shows are a lot more for free items than ones that cost.
As for people knowing where you live you can easily avert that by meeting them somewhere else. I rarely worry about it honestly. Ive never had someone came by to complain about something I sold. I had one person e-mail me yelling and cursing at me because the crib I sold her a month before had been recalled and I refused to give her the money she bought it for back. But no one come by.

[iris777888]

One thing to check into is whether there are any auction houses in your area that have consignment auctions. Then you can just load up your stuff, bring it to them and let them price and sell it. They do take a cut, but they also put in the work to get the buyers there, handle payment, etc. To me it seems like a better option than just giving away valuable items. I just found out we have such a place in our area and am strongly thinking about trying it out. Another option would be consignment shops.

For items not worth much I tend to Freecycle or drop off at Goodwill's drive through, as it's quick/easy. Usually I just want the stuff gone!

[clutterwarrior]

It sounds to me like you should only sell those things that are worth investing the time in listing....as you don't have loads of extra energy and time.

I would take all the small ticket items to goodwill if I were you...that way you are avoiding your concern of strangers coming to your home, which is a real issue for you and your DH, and although it may not be highly likely to be a problem, it is a matter of risk management and one less stress for you.

Only list those items on ebay/craigslist, which have a high likelihood of selling for a price you are willing to spend time selling for. I sell things on ebay but no longer list at 99c as I wasted too much time listing and then things would actually sell for 99c, which was very disappointing, so I now don't bother listing things for any less than $7 at the least, but mostly for ten dollars or more. For you your minimum may be $20 or even $50...it depends on what you feel your extra energy and time are worth.

[UberMama]

Just throwing this out there - we used to live in the boonies, miles and miles from anything, no real neighbors to speak of, etc. We held a garage sale and we did amazingly well. I advertised it on Craigslist for two weeks prior, put up balloons at the end of our (long) driveway and within 4 hours we had made over $500 and the highest priced item was $20! We had to shut down earlier than we had expected as we had nothing left.

When I am selling stuff, I sometimes meet people in the parking lot of a store near me. That works well and it's in a very public place. At most the person knows my license plate number.

[sunshineafterrain]

My favorite thing is to just give it away, not only is it just plain easier, it makes me feel good to know that someone got a deal on it at the thrift store, and the thrift store is tied to a charity so they are helping people Win-Win-Win situation

I live on a dead end road too, but it abuts a busy road and many large items (visible from a car) I've set curbside with a FREE sign on it

Everything that fits in my car goes to the thrift store.

I like to shop at thrift stores myself and love great finds and I always send a little mental "thank you" to whoever let it go so I could use it...I like to think of it as a revolving door.

Having said that, I do have some large,heavy bureaus to pass on, and am leaning toward an auction house just to have it over and done with without worrying about someone getting hurt carrying it out of here, any money would be icing on the cake

Making some money would be nice for me too, I could use it, but I usually can't be bothered with the hassle of selling

Good luck with your decision